Margaret Drabble on Malcolm Bradbury's The History Man
Wednesday 5th Sep 2012
This book was sharper, harder, blacker in its comedy than many of his admirers had anticipated. This was his third campus novel, but it had none of the self-deprecation, the slapstick and the gently depressed bathos that had been his hallmarks. It goes for the kill.
Margaret Drabble
From the new introduction to The History ManReaders and critics sometimes use the word 'unpleasant' about it, and it does deal with much unpleasantness, but it also raises the spirits. I ascribe this to the great delight that Bradbury takes in his observation of the changing world around him, in its absurdities, its human oddities, its bizarre products.
Author
Picador |